Alpha 20 released

[robn]

The Pioneer development team are pleased to announce the release of Pioneer Alpha 20. Featured this month is an in-system fuel model (don't run out!), beautiful new thruster and laser graphics and new heading-hold flight mode. Full changelog and builds for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux are available from the download page.New features[*:vc0h233a]Thrusters now require fuel to operate. Refuel when you dock or buy water refuel during flight. Fuel club will refill and sell you water cheaply. (#980, #993, #992, #1018, #1032, #1034, #1043, #1045)[*:vc0h233a]New thruster and laser graphics (#945, #962, #149, #148, #973)[*:vc0h233a]Heading-hold flight mode (press CTRL while changing flight mode) (#450, #990)[*:vc0h233a]Rewritten DeliverPackage mission module (#1027, #1041, #1042, #1044)[*:vc0h233a]Hungarian translation (#947, #894)Minor changes and tweaks[*:vc0h233a]LED effect on timeaccel buttons (#946, #153)[*:vc0h233a]Render projectiles out to 20km from the camera (#957)[*:vc0h233a]FOV is now specified vertically (and correctly) (#971)[*:vc0h233a]Cargo screen updates automatically when cargo changes (#982)[*:vc0h233a]Fewer background stars, but brighter. Looks about the same but takes less effort to construct and draw (#1020)[*:vc0h233a]Change death spin to a simple zoom (#916, #1033)[*:vc0h233a]Assassinations module now uses character classes for character variety and consistency (#953, #948)Fixes[*:vc0h233a]Updated zlib and libpng DLLs for MSVC to fix screenshot crash (#942, #645)[*:vc0h233a]Only allow missiles to be fired in open flight (#951)[*:vc0h233a]Assassination targets will now gracefully handle an autopilot failure when taking off (#955, #950)[*:vc0h233a]HDR visuals removed (#939, #963)[*:vc0h233a]Fix projectile collision checks (#965)[*:vc0h233a]Various scanner range fixes (#944)[*:vc0h233a]Make sure all bodies have a minimum radius of at least 10km (#968, #321, #301)[*:vc0h233a]Fix crash when requesting system information whilst in hyperspace (#975)[*:vc0h233a]Messages no longer cause the game to un-pause when they clear (#966)[*:vc0h233a]Game no longer quits if you cancel loading from the main menu (#920)[*:vc0h233a]Fix game crash if a script tries to add or remove a negative amount of cargo or equipment (#982)[*:vc0h233a]Fix flipped Hammerhead "neck" textures (#986)[*:vc0h233a]Don't show "fly to" option for combat target if the player does not have an autopilot fitted (#988)[*:vc0h233a]Close comms menu on hyperspace (#996, #984)[*:vc0h233a]Fix game crash if game is loaded over a loaded game (#1014, #1015)[*:vc0h233a]Fix bulletin boards being re-created after game load (#1017)[*:vc0h233a]Don't allocate and deallocate hyperspace starfield every frame (#1020)[*:vc0h233a]Stop attacking ships continuing to fire on dead player (#1033, #57)[*:vc0h233a]Don't extend model textures to power-of-two sizes (#923)Script changes[*:vc0h233a]New FlightLog class that tracks systems and starports visited by the (#1021)[*:vc0h233a]New method Ship.SetFuelPercent and attribute Ship.fuel to set and get ship fuel amount. New event onShipFuelChanged to report fuel status (#980)[*:vc0h233a]New method Ship.Explode to destroy the ship immediately (#974)Internal changes[*:vc0h233a]New graphics/rendering infrastructure (#960, #913, #1001, #1002, #1013, #1024, #1007)[*:vc0h233a]Silence MSVC warnings (#964)[*:vc0h233a]Remove dependencies on Pi from Texture (#969) and Font (#981)[*:vc0h233a]Move EquipSet into its own header (#991)[*:vc0h233a]Give float comparison functions consistent naming (#991)[*:vc0h233a]Use the correct size_t format specifier for the compiler (#991)

[walterar]

Possibly the most stable version to date.

[Geraldine]

Yaay! Its Friday AND Alpha 20 is out! Weekend sorted!

[freegamer]

Is there a reason that you don't post the changes on the news announcement page?It means that to see what is changed, people have to go to the forums, then find the relevant thread. It would make it a lot more convenient for "readers and observers" to just include the full text of the first post in the announcement OR link to this thread directly.

[robn]

freegamer wrote:
Is there a reason that you don't post the changes on the news announcement page?
A release notice is posted to http://pioneerspacesim.net/news. It explicitly says that the changelog can be found on the download page, which it links to. If that's all you're interested in it then you have it right there. I also post details to this forum because its where the community hangs out, as well as posting to Google+ and Twitter.If you have suggestions on how release communications could be improved, we'd be happy to hear about it. Double points if you're willing to help with it (a release currently takes me a couple of hours).

[Brianetta]

Not sure what you mean. The news page shows only a couple of lines (with new feature highlights), and links to the download page, which has links and the full text of the changelog. It even says as much. There's absolutely no requirement to come to this forum to see that.
On pioneerspacesim.net, robn wrote:
The Pioneer development team are pleased to announce the release of Pioneer Alpha 20. Featured this month is an in-system fuel model (don't run out!), beautiful new thruster and laser graphics and new heading-hold flight mode. Full changelog and builds for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux are available from the download page.

[Brianetta]

You ninja, Rob...

[Robsoie]

Thanks for the new release, can't wait to run out of fuel :DIt 's been a few versions i wanted to mention this, but always forgot as it's not a place i visit usually.On the Epsilon Eridani start, there's the gaz giant HerculesBut when i fly somewhere nearby, what i see is that :Is the texture supposed to be that dark by design ?

[Potsmoke66]

someones tried large ship, >500 t ?the fuel cunsumption is horrible, i like that they need a lot but that's far to much, imo.i tried to test my "Terra" ship (250t,750t,drive7) i loaded 100t of water after using ~50t i still didn't made it into space! i guess i need all 750t capacity for fuel to get to the next spacestation. :lol:edit: very sensitive to the power of used drives, sorry!with the standard eagle all is clearelse"looks fantastic!" [/hr]@Robsoie obviously you're on the backside?but i can be wrong

[robn]

Robsoie wrote:
Is the texture supposed to be that dark by design ?
You're in a procedurally-generated universe, so very little is "by design". But yes, right now Hercules has an incredibly dark, dense atmosphere, so its yellow-orange surface doesn't show through.

[Robsoie]

Ah ok, i asked because in the other screenshot that i uploaded (the one in which you can see every planet, moons and space stations of a system), the gaz giant didn't showed with that dark color.

[robn]

potsmoke66 wrote:
someones tried large ship, >500 t ?the fuel cunsumption is horrible, i like that they need a lot but that's far to much, imo.
A "real" massive ship would likely require a lot of fuel. Bring water
Quote:
i tried to test my "Terra" ship (250t,750t,drive7) i loaded 100t of water after using ~50t i still didn't made it into space! i guess i need all 750t capacity for fuel to get to the next spacestation.
Have you added the new fuel attributes to your ship_defs? For example, the Hammerhead has:
Code:
fuel_tank_mass = 337, --full tank, tons in addition to hull_massthruster_fuel_use = 0.0003, --percent, per second (at max thrust, determined by strongest thruster)
If you don't have these attributes set appropriately for your ship the defaults will be used, which if I remember correctly are nearly always using too much fuel.

[Zephyros]

Would there be a replacement for the HDR??I know that this was mentioned in another post and I concur that the HDR made some objects and textures look ugly. But colors and effects (especially daylight in planets) actually improved with HDR. I don't actually miss it but would be great if there are plans for something better.

[robn]

Zephyros wrote:
Would there be a replacement for the HDR??I know that this was mentioned in another post and I concur that the HDR made some objects and textures look ugly. But colors and effects (especially daylight in planets) actually improved with HDR. I don't actually miss it but would be great if there are plans for something better.
There are plans, though not much in motion yet. Basically we'll be looking at each visual in isolation and figuring out how to make it look the way we want it, rather than trying to make a one-size-fits-all solution that ends up not really working properly in most places. No ETA - volunteer projects are like that

[Marcel]

I noticed that now those #*&#%s! at the spaceports are now charging a docking fee like they did in Frontier. Thanks a lot! I missed that!

[Brianetta]

Yeah, you might want to go somewhere cheaper than Sol...

[Potsmoke66]

Quote:
Have you added the new fuel attributes to your ship_defs? For example, the Hammerhead has:
yes, i noticed it quickly after, that's why the "edit:" (sorry)that's fine so far.BUTi noticed one (small) other problem it's the new deliver package script, first you get rewarded 10 time to much imo, but i guess that's a deniable and easy to fix error.second, it looks like you invested a lot in calculating the durance of a flight, but the result is unsuitable, mildly said.you would need a "stargate" to get in two days to the next system. can't it be kept as simple as before? it has worked fine, some you could reach some not, that's enough imo. and screwing up the average durance a bit has helped to make them a little less periculous (before it was also often impossible to reach most systems in time even with the "eagle".

[Brianetta]

We're aware of the issues with the new script. Those rewards aren't 10 times too much - if you can get those packages delivered on time, you deserve every cent. Also, my admiration. I do know that it's possible.Needless to say, we're working on that.

[Potsmoke66]

edit: ok, i take that back the rewards have a very wide span from 400 to 40'000 for interstellar deliveries, reachable they seem both, if it's true what i get as travel time (before alpha20 i noticed i had to add 20% at least compared to what is calculated, i.e. if 30days it needs 40days for the hyperspace travel, i assume this is for a empty ship, if loaded it will take some time extra).i'm still busy with updating all my models ;)edit2: not quite truealready the estimated travel time exceeds all interstellar delivery missions, and still you had to add 20 - 30% for a travel because of the additional mass a ship will have with it's equipment.can't made it even with the "ADC-44", which is a real fast ship due to it's low mass (30ly range loaded = 12t total mass).this can't be made in no way, imho.common start with the eagle, selected a average delivery mission. (rewards "only" 3900.00)[attachment=1099:Bildschirmfoto 2012-03-12 um 15.43.22.png][attachment=1100:Bildschirmfoto 2012-03-12 um 15.43.27.png][attachment=1101:Bildschirmfoto 2012-03-12 um 15.43.55.png]what ship do you think can get there in 9days? the hyperspace travel needs already four times of that, and you still need to fly to the target.even if i take my "ADC-44" i will need 20 days at least to get there.until i haven't found one that is possible, low or high rewards.btw, interplanetary deliveries are scarce in time but ok.

[trumpet]

New alpha looks great! New fuel system... is going to be great. I think you need to dial it back a bit/tweak it over the next couple of versions.Buy an Eye, try flying to Neptune, orbiting Triton then flying to Pluto... holy crap it eats through the water (actually it probs better to say 'gulps down the water')!!!!I know there'll be counters to this saying 'well that's realistic etc'... I agree fuel should be a factor, but I think it burns through it too quickly currently and you just need to dial it back a bit.Frontier ships burned fuel to get around the systems too (the same fuel as what u used to jump) but its km per tonne ratio across the entire gamut of ships is way more user friendly than the current KPT of the Pioneer ships. Great idea though! I look forward to future tweaks.PS: is it worth doing a blank 10 tonne capacity increase across the entire range of ships... ur having to carry even more fuel now, so its even less room for cabins, shields and commodities ?